Friday 15th July 2011 - Published by Kelly Jackson - Communications Executive
Review Sites: Why they don’t work, won’t work and can’t ever work
Libelous and fake negative reviews, posted by competitors, are just the tip of the iceberg in the problems caused by review sites for business owners, particularly within the hospitality industry.
The developers of Trust Mico, a new online recommendations website, which launches on Monday 18thJuly, have warned the managers of hotels, restaurants and pubs, that they may not be aware of the full extent of the threat posed to their businesses by online review sites.
The real root of the problem lies in consumers’ bias towards negativity. Research* has demonstrated that people are five times more stimulated by a negative stimulus than a positive one. With this in mind, it follows that consumers will need to see five positive reviews of a business, to counteract the negative impact inflicted by one bad one.
This would be bad enough, if it wasn’t for the other critical impact of this bias towards negativity; namely the effect that this has on consumers deciding to leave feedback in the first place.
Further research** suggests that the reason we give more prominence to bad experiences than good ones is based on our instinct to survive, which makes us five times more likely to warn others after a negative experience, rather than focussing on sharing the good ones.
Alex Small , CEO of Trust Mico, said: “This leaves even the best businesses in a difficult situation. They need people to see at least five times more positive reviews than negative, yet their customers are five times more likely to leave negative reviews than positive ones.
“Is it really surprising, therefore, that some business owners have had to resort to dishonestly writing their own good reviews, as a way to even up the balance?” he added.
Trust Mico has been created, with the simple aim of providing consumers with the UK’s largest online business directory, allowing them to search for, find and recommend the businesses they like, and share these recommendations with people they know.
Not only do business benefit from these powerful personal endorsements, they will also be able to offer great incentives and rewards for their customers.
As Trust Mico is a platform for positive recommendations from known and trusted individuals, rather than damaging anonymous reviews, it remains secure from abuse and mistrust.
Trust Mico - Hospitality - a pr2go story
